The Golf Insiders June 22, 2016 - a podcast by The Golf Insiders

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Holly G is in the studio with co host Kevin Sternett, assistant pro at Golden Bear Club at Keene's Point and Will Perry, creative director at EVVUS and Golf Insiders social media guru. The trio kicks off the show talking about the great week of golf including the U.S. Open, won by Dustin Johnson.

One of the main distractions for this year's U.S. Open and DJ is that the USGA had a questionable ruling on DJ on the 5th hole of his final round where the ball moved before he grounded his club behind the ball. He called the rules official over and told him that he did not cause the ball to move. The official told him to play on with no penalty. However, the USGA confronted DJ on the 12th hole and told him that they had reviewed the video evidence and requested that he review the footage after the round. Then it would be decided if he would incur the one-stroke penalty.

Bob Harig, ESPN.com, calls in from Congressional to talk about last week's U.S. Open and the USGA's ruling on DJ. Bob said that in the media center that it was chaos and absolute disbelief as the events unfolded. 

Kevin talks with Bob about the fact the ruling controversy not only was hard on Dustin, but it impacted the rest of the field not knowing how each player chasing the leader should attack the rest of the round. They did not know if Dustin was going to incur the penalty or if his current round's score was accurate. The team and Bob talk about the player's honor being called into question, which is paramount in the game of golf, not only for Dustin but Lee Westwood who was playing alongside DJ. In the end DJ was able to win by more than one stroke, which saved the USGA from an even greater PR nightmare.

Bob said the key was that DJ had not addressed the ball. "Outside the USGA, I don't see anyone else who agrees with them." It happened to Shane Lowry the day before when he called the penalty on himself. USGA Rule 18b was revised in 2016, which was supposed to help shed some clarity on the subject.

Tony Austin, Director of Programs for Core Golf Education in Orlando and also serves on the board for PGA of America as a member of the rules committee, call in for the second segment of the show to talk more about the ruling that affected this year's U.S. Open.

Tony said that he felt for everyone involved including the committee. He said that he would have ruled that DJ had moved the ball because of his close proximity to the ball when it rolled, that DJ caused it to move. The problem was that the ruling wasn't made until after the round and not immediately when it happened.

Tony pointed out that the rule is written that the committee can always take a look at something to get it right. It seemed like a non incident in real time. But the committee taking so long to bring it up and get it into the mainstream of the world was chaos.  

Tony said as he was watching the event on TV, he didn't think that DJ caused the ball to move. He said he thought differently after he reread the rule. There didn't appear to be any wind, and DJ stood very close to the ball, and the fact that he put his putter down to the side and it touched the ground to some degree, Tony would have given DJ the penalty ... based on the way the rule is written.  The USGA and R&A definitely need to take a look at the rule and see what the intention of the rule is.

Mike Kern, Philadelphia Daily News, calls in to the show to talk about the U.S. Open Championship. Mike talks to Holly about Dustin Johnson's play. When he is on he is as talented as anyone on the Tour. His putting usually holds him back. Holly asks Mike about Jim Furyk and the rest of the Top 10 on the leader board at the 2016 U.S. Open. Mike discusses the age of the Furyk and Mickelson and the fact that they don't usually win major championships in their 40s. Not that they can't but it's something that is usually not done.

Jeff Shain, The Island Packet in Hilton Head, calls in to wrap up the show. Holly asks Jeff about the Olympics and the people like Rory McIlroy deciding not to participate in the Olympics due to the Zika virus. Jeff said that the golf schedule has a huge event over other week this season and a week off is a big deal to the players. None of the LPGA players have backed out of the Olympics. Jeff said that it seems that it would be a female golfer who has pulled out of the Olympics.

Kevin, Will and Holly discuss the fact that it seems the women players seem more interested in the Olympics and not the men in the U.S. 

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